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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Federal Union, the John Fiske (search)
y the League won by force of arms a small bit of Italian territory about Lake Lugano, and in the sixteenth the powerful city of Bern annexed the Burgundian bishopric of Lausanne and rescued the free city of Geneva from the clutches of the Duke of Savoy. Other Burgundian possessions of Savoy were seized by the canton of Freiburg; and after awhile all these subjects and allies were admitted on equal terms into the confederation. The result is that modern Switzerland is made up of what might seSavoy were seized by the canton of Freiburg; and after awhile all these subjects and allies were admitted on equal terms into the confederation. The result is that modern Switzerland is made up of what might seem to be most discordant and unmanageable elements. Four languages— German, French, Italian, and Rhaetian— are spoken within the limits of the confederacy; and in point of religion the cantons are sharply divided as Catholic and Protestant. Yet in spite of all this, Switzerland is as thoroughly united in feeling as any nation in Europe. To the German-speaking Catholic of Altdorf the German Catholics of Bavaria are foreigners, while the French-speaking Protestants of Geneva are fellow-country
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), France, early relations with. (search)
isting war France and Spain, in the whole extent of their dominions, were to stand as one state towards foreign powers. This treaty secured to the American colonies, in advance, the aid of Charles III. of Spain. A special convention was concluded the same day between France and Spain, by which the latter agreed to declare war against England unless peace between France and England should be concluded before May, 1762. Choiseul covenanted with Spain that Portugal should be compelled, and Savoy, Holland, and Denmark should be invited, to join in a federative union for the common advantage of all maritime powers. Pitt proposed to declare war against Spain, but was outvoted, and resigned (Oct. 5, 1761). The French government was pleased when the breach between Great Britain and her colonies began, and sought to widen it. England had stripped France of her possessions in America, and France sought to dismember the British Empire, and cause it a greater loss, by the achievement of
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Metric system, (search)
system is the metre, which is 3.37 inches longer than the American yard. This base, determined by Delambre and Mechain, is the 1-40,000,000 part of the circumference of the earth on the meridian extending through France from Dunkirk to Barcelona. It was made the unit of length and the base of the system by law, April 7, 1795. A prototype metre was constructed in platinum by an international commission, representing the governments of France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Savoy, and the Roman, Cisalpine, and Ligurian republics, in 1799. The unit of weight is the gramme, the weight of a cubic centimetre of water at 4° centigrade (the temperature of greatest density). The unit of measure of surface is the are, which is the square of the decametre, or 10 metres. The unit of measure of capacity is the stere, or cubic metre. The system is now in use in the United States Marine Hospital service, in the foreign business of the post-office, in the United States coast an
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Nicollet, Jean Nicholas 1786-1843 (search)
Nicollet, Jean Nicholas 1786-1843 Explorer; born in Cluses, Savoy, July 24, 1786; came to the United States in 1823 to study the physical geography of North America; first travelled over the Southern States and then explored the region in which lay the sources of the Missouri, Arkansas, and Red rivers. In 1836 he explored the sources of the Mississippi. Afterwards he was employed by the War Department. His publications include Report intended to illustrate a map of the hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River. He died in Washington, D. C., Sept. 11, 1843.
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), G. (search)
urch windows were generally glazed in the sixteenth century, though there were but few glass windows in private dwellings. Talc, isinglass, horn, oiled paper, and thinly shaved leather were generally used instead of glass throughout the civilized world. Blue glass, colored by the addition of cobalt to the frit, was discovered about 1550 by Christopher Schurer of Platten, Bohemia. Glass was imported into England, A. D. 1177; the manufacture was established in that country, 1557. In Savoy, the same year. Plate-glass was made at Lambeth by Venetian artists, 1673. The British Plate-Glass Company was established 1773. An active manufactory of glass exists at Hebron, in the land of Palestine,—the same Hebron where is the cave of Machpelah, bought by Abraham for a sum of money of Ephron, one of the sons of Heth. The tombs are preserved in rigid seclusion from Jew and Christian; of the latter, not one lives in the town of 5,000 people. Dr. Thomson gives an account of it
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), I. (search)
ht, and perhaps on account of the fear of the contamination of the fresh water of the river by the salt water of the sea, it may really have been an inclined plane like that which crossed the Isthmus of Corinth some centuries afterward. The sluice preceded the lock in Europe (see canal), and was probably used also in the grand canal of China, built in the ninth century A. D. The canal lock was invented in Italy in the fourteenth century. On the Mount Cenis Railroad, which crossed between Savoy and Italy previous to the completion of the tunnel, the elevation is overcome by a series of inclined planes, with mechanical devices to cause a positive grip upon the rails, instead of depending upon frictional contact for the tractile effect of the motor. The railway tunnel has superseded the mountain road. On the old line of the Pennsylvania Railroad by Hollidaysburg, the reader may have noticed and admired the inclined planes by which the summit and several other gradients were asce
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), R. (search)
ways; the Via Aemilia extended from Rimini to Piacenza. The smaller ways were the Via Praenestina to Palestrina (the ancient Praeneste); Tiburtina to Tivoli; Ostiensis to Ostia; Laurentina to Laurentum, south of Ostia; Salaria, etc. Under Julius Caesar the capital of the Empire was in complete communication with all the principal cities by paved road. During the last African war a paved road was constructed through Spain and Gaul to the Alps. These roads connected the capital with Savoy, Dauphine, and Provence, Germany, all parts of Spain, Gaul, Constantinople, Hungary, Macedonia, and the mouths of the Danube. On the other sides of the intervening waters these roads were continued in Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, England, Asia, and Africa. The Roman roads were distinguished by the names Via, Actus, Iter, Semita, Trames, Diverticulum, Divertium, Callais, etc. The Via was the best, and had a width of 8 Roman feet. The Vioe Militari and other important roads in the ne
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), T. (search)
f dividing the stuff; d, perforated disk, to prevent the passage of chips or bits of stone; e, Archimedean pipes fitted into a disk of sheet-iron to convey water to the gauze or perforated trommel f; g, slimecistern; h, cistern for receiving the rough stuff; i, slime-outlet, communicating with round buddle or other suitable apparatus; k, outlet for trommel raff, which may be delivered into a sizing cistern. Slime-trommel. Trompe. The water-blowing engine; used as a furnace-blast in Savoy, Carniola, and some parts of America. Water from a reservoir a flows through the pipe b. which is contracted just below the reservoir to divide the stream into a shower, and has oblique perforations at c, through which air enters and is carried down by the water, which impinges upon a plate in the drum d, separating the air which is compressed in the upper part of the drum, flowing through the pipe e to the tuyeres or blast-pipes. At the bottom of the drum d is an orifice for the escape
Elias Nason, The Life and Times of Charles Sumner: His Boyhood, Education and Public Career., Chapter 13: (search)
l duties. a Third Visit to Europe. letter on leaving. diagnosis and treatment of his Disease by Dr. Brown-Sequard. Mr Sumner's fortitude. a letter from Aix in Savoy. life at Montpellier. return to Paris. Visit to La Grange. return to the United States. progress of events. Mr. Sumner again in the Senate. Sharp reply to MMr. Sumner found some alleviation to his sufferings by continuing the study of engravings in the cabinets of Paris. In the latter part of August he visited Aix in Savoy, long noted for its thermal waters and healthful atmosphere. In a letter to a friend, dated at this place, Sept. 11, 1858, he describes his mode of life and his aition. This is harder to bear than the fire. I do not hear of friends engaged in active service,--like Trumbull in Illinois,--without a feeling of envy. From Savoy he went through Switzerland via Milan to Venice, but was too great an invalid to derive much pleasure from visiting the Ducal Palace or the far-famed Rialto. He r
William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 2, Chapter 36: Outlook. (search)
ding power in Europe, has been rent asunder and has forfeited her throne in Germany. Spain, a hundred years ago the first colonial empire in the world, has lost her colonies and conquests, and has sunk into a third-rate power. France, which, little more than a hundred years ago, possessed Canada, Louisiana, the Mississippi valley, the island of Mauritius, and a stronghold in Hindoostan, has lost all these possessions and exchanged her vineyards and cornfields on the Rhine for the snows of Savoy and the sands of Algiers. Piedmont and Prussia, on the other hand, have sprung into the foremost rank of nations. Piedmont has become Italy, with a capital in Milan and Venice, Florence and Naples, as well as in Rome. Still more striking and more glorious has been the growth of Prussia. A hundred years ago Prussia was just emerging into notice as a small but well-governed and hard-fighting country, with a territory no larger than Michigan, and a population considerably less than Ohio. I
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